


Spooned

by CobaltStargazer



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Cuddling, Developing Relationship, F/M, Late Nights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 16:30:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1864659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltStargazer/pseuds/CobaltStargazer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer isn't quite used to having someone there when he gets back, but he could get accustomed to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spooned

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to 'Love Interruption'. Thanks to scifiqueen1 for the heads up about making note of that. :-)

"Hey, Morgan, can you drop me off on your way home?"

"Sure thing, kid. Just give me a second, and we can get on the road."

It was three in the morning, and the jet had landed half an hour ago. The team had wrapped up the case successfully, and the flight home had passed amid the usual chatter and discussion of the unsub. Spencer had gotten a lift from Derek when he'd come in, so it seemed logical to ask him for the same favor now that they had come home.

Spencer picked up his go-bag, having finished his report, then loitered in the bullpen while he waited for the other profiler to complete his paperwork. It was so late that he expected Elle would already be asleep when he returned to the apartment. She remembered enough about the job to know that there was no such thing as regular hours. He was ready to crash for a while himself.

The night was chilly, and he pulled his lightweight jacket around himself when he and Derek stepped outside. It was the first time he and Morgan had been one-on-one since his trip to New Mexico. The doors clunked shut, and the engine started. Exhaust puffed into the cool air in small puffs.

"It'll be good to sleep in my own bed tonight," Derek remarked, and Spencer nodded. The older man studied him out of the corner of his eye. None of them knew quite what to make of Reid since his time away. He seemed lighter somehow, less likely to brood. Derek had yet to really broach the subject of Elle, and wasn't even sure it wasn't off-limits. 

"So what's it like, having her around again?"

"It's...different."

Spencer was looking out the window, and he was still wearing the piece of turquoise she'd given him at the airport in Santa Fe. He didn't know if it was bringing him luck, but the only time he took it off was when he got in the shower. The late hour had him yawning. The sun was coming up later now that fall was here. Maybe they'd sleep in.

"I'm looking forward to seeing her again." Derek couldn't remember if he'd had an opinion about William Lee's shooting at the time or not, but in the present he mostly felt she'd done the right thing. Rapists were predators, and some of them were worse than any unsub. One less of them wasn't a bad thing.

"She's a little apprehensive about seeing everybody. Hotch made her defensive, and she pretty much went to Defcon 5. That's why she didn't come pick me up at work."

Silence fell as the drive continued, and Derek wondered if there was a diplomatic way to ask what he wanted to ask. There had been a time when he'd teased Spencer about women, but after Maeve died he'd stopped because he didn't want to hurt the kid. But Elle was a different person, and she'd been gone for a long time.

"Are you and her...?"

The sentence trailed off, and Reid swung his attention in the direction of the driver. The radio was on, but the volume was low. For once, Spencer didn't blush. The lights from the dashboard threw his features into sharp relief. Hotch hadn't asked either, not after he'd more or less lectured the man about butting into his life. After a minute, he went back to looking out at the quiet street.

"We're friends. Close friends."

Because he wasn't going to talk about it. What he and Elle did in private was exactly that, _private_. Yes, he was pleased that things had turned physical, but it wasn't a subject he was going to discuss with anyone. Not even Derek.

Morgan took that as his cue to drop the subject, and he said something inane about sports that changed the tone of the conversation. When he let Spencer out in front of his building, the younger profiler waved, and he beeped his horn as he pulled away from the curb.

As Reid had expected, there was only one dim light on when he unlocked the apartment, and he closed and re-locked the door quietly before moving further inside. Elle had had to leave Maxie with a sitter back at home because his building had a policy against dogs. He took off his jacket and hung it up, then dropped his go-bag on the sofa. His shoes came off next, and he padded into the bathroom. He changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth, then moved down the hall.

Elle was a shape under the covers in the dimness, and Spencer slipped into the bed with her, trying not to wake her. She made a sleepy noise, turned over with her eyes still closed. 

"Hey, you made it back."

"Yeah. It was less complicated than we thought. Grisly, but not labyrinthine."

"You got 'em, then?"

We got 'em."

She kissed his chin, and he dropped an answering one on her cheek. He was tired and jet lagged, and she was warm and half-asleep. But she was awake enough to say, "My hero," before she rolled over, and he put his arm around her from behind. Even without sex, cuddling was very much welcome.

They were _definitely_ going to sleep in.


End file.
